Top News Stories for Today

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced Wednesday that former President Andrew Jackson will soon be replaced by Harriet Tubman on the front of the $20 bill, though his image will remain on the back.

Though the Treasury had initially planned to usurp Alexander Hamilton from his spot on the $10 bill in order to feature a woman on the currency, the Founding Father will also remain on the $10, while leaders of the women’s right to vote movement will be featured on Hamilton’s flip side. The $5 bill will also be updated to depict civil rights-era leaders. Politico

N Korea believes defectors are tricked

North Korea is demanding that a meeting be set up between a dozen recent defectors it claims were abducted by South Korea and their parents, or the south will face “strong retaliatory action.”

The twelve women worked in a North Korean restaurant in China before they arrived in the South earlier this month. South Korean leaders say the women came of their own free will, while the North claims the women were essentially kidnapped by spies who tricked them into defecting.

North Korea is notoriously harsh against would-be defectors, often subjecting those who are unsuccessful in escaping to severe punishment. VOA

Obama and King Salman met in Saudi

President Obama and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman met for two hours Wednesday in Riyadh, with the White House saying the pair discussed their opposing views on regional conflicts, human rights issues in the kingdom, and the fight against the Islamic State.

“The two leaders reaffirmed the historic friendship and deep strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” as well as “the challenges posed by Iran’s provocative activities in the region,” the White House said in a statement. The White House did not say if the pair talked about a proposed bill in Congress that could hold Saudi Arabia responsible for any role it may have played in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Reuters via The Week

Cities with most air pollution in US

On Wednesday, ALA released its 2016 State of Air report. The findings reveal more than 50% of Americans live in areas with unhealthy levels of particle pollution, tiny solid and liquid particles floating around the air we breathe, or ozone pollution, harmful gases that react to sunlight.

Heavy road traffic and a busy trade port are major contributors to Los Angeles’ poor air pollution. The city joins 12 other counties that failed all three air pollution tests by the ALA. The report analyzed ozone, short-term and year-round particle pollution.

Here are the top 10 cities with the worst ozone or particle pollution:

US Presidential election

Trump vs Cruz after New York:The Republican National Committee began holding its three-day spring meeting at a seaside resort in Hollywood, Florida, on Wednesday, and the Ted Cruz and Donald Trump campaigns are there courting Republican officials, especially in states that haven’t voted yet. Cruz himself met with RNC members, telling reporters that even after his loss in New York, “what’s clear today is that we are headed to a contested convention.” Trump, who is expected to shift his campaign towards more traditional tactics, was campaigning in Indiana on Wednesday, decrying the RNC’s “rigged, crooked system.” His new political director, Rick Wiley, was at the Florida resort holding private meetings with GOP officials. Other top aides will make Trump’s case to RNC officials on Thursday.

Trump and Clinton closer to nomination: Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, edging closer to winning their parties’ U.S. presidential nominations after decisive wins in New York’s nominating contests, are now looking to new elections in five states next week to extend their lead over their remaining challengers. The next key date in the months-long U.S. presidential campaign is April 26, with Republican and Democratic primaries in four northeastern states — Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Rhode Island — where pre-election surveys show Trump and Clinton with significant leads. The small state of Delaware also votes next week, but polling has not been conducted there. VOA

Women VP for Clinton: Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta said the Democratic presidential front-runner would be open to an all-female ticket. “We’ll start with a broad list and then begin to narrow it. But there is no question that there will be women on that list,” Podesta told the Boston Globe describing the process of picking Clinton’s runningmate in an interview published Wednesday. An all-female presidential ticket would be a historic first in a presidential election full of surprises as Clinton competes to be the first female president of the United States. CNN

Clinton raised 11.8 million in March:Priorities USA Action, the super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, raised nearly $11.8 million in March, the group reported Wednesday. The March haul brings to $67 million the group has collected so far for the presidential election, and wealthy Democratic donors have pledged to give another $49 million, officials said. Counting those pledges, Priorities has raised more than $116 million. USA Today